Dynamical modeling of biogas production supported by an experimental anaerobic digestion process

This paper presents the development of a combined experimental and numerical approach to study the anaerobic digestion of both the wastes produced in a biorefinery using yeast for biodiesel production and the wastes generated in the preceding microbial biomass production. The experimental results show that it is possible to valorise through anaerobic digestion all the tested residues. In the implementation of the numerical model for anaerobic digestion, a procedure for the identification of its parameters needs to be developed. A hybrid search Genetic Algorithm was used, followed by a direct search method. In order to test the procedure for estimation of parameters, first noise-free data was considered and a critical analysis of the results obtain so far was undertaken. As a demonstration of its application, the procedure was applied to experimental data.

Strategic Orientations, Dynamic Capabilities, and Firm Performance: an Analysis for Knowledge Intensive Business Services

The strategic orientations of a firm are considered crucial for enhancing firm performance and their impact can be even greater when associated with dynamic capabilities, particularly in complex and dynamic environments. This study empirically analyzes the relationship between market, entrepreneurial and learning orientations, dynamic capabilities, and performance using an integrative approach hitherto little explored. Using a sample of 209 knowledge intensive business service firms, this paper applies structural equation modeling to explore both direct effects of strategic orientations and the mediating role of dynamic capabilities on performance. The study demonstrates that learning orientation and one of the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation have a direct positive effect on performance. On the other hand, dynamic capabilities mediate the relationships between some of the strategic orientations and firm performance. Overall, when dynamic capabilities are combined with the appropriate strategic orientations, they enhance firm performance. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the knowledge economy, given the important role knowledge intensive business services play in such a dynamic and pivotal sector.

Prática de ensino supervisionada em Pré-escolar e em 1.º ciclo do ensino básico: organização de ambientes educativos promotores da educação em ciências naturais

O presente relatório, elaborado no âmbito Prática de Ensino Supervisionada em Pré-Escolar e em 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico dá a conhecer os processos de aprendizagem imanentes à prática desenvolvida em contexto. Em Educação Pré- Escolar elaborei um memorial de formação que permitiu refletir sobre as experiências vividas no estágio, possibilitando a aquisição de conhecimentos e aprendizagens profissionais. No 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico o estágio também assumiu uma perspetiva reflexiva que me permitiu aprender a profissão, mas a dinâmica do trabalho com as crianças possibilitou, igualmente, a realização de um projeto alinhado com a investigação-ação. Os contextos foram diferenciados pela sua especificidade, quer pela situação geográfica e cultural das instituições, quer pelo nível de ensino em que se desenvolveram. A prática educativa em 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico ocorreu na escola EB/JI Galopim de Carvalho em Évora, já a prática em Pré-Escolar ocorreu no Núcleo de Educação Infantil Colônia Z-11, na cidade de Florianópolis no Brasil. No que respeita à dimensão investigativa, dediquei especial atenção à “Organização de Ambientes Educativos Promotores da Educação em Ciências Naturais”, com vista a compreender como é que aprender ciências pode contribuir para a literacia científica das crianças tendo em vista o exercício de uma cidadania informada. Para tal as crianças envolveram-se ativamente no processo de construção do seu próprio conhecimento. Recorri a autores que me deram contributos para conceber, planear e fundamentar as práticas, quer do ponto de vista pedagógico quer do ponto de vista dos conteúdos curriculares. Para a recolha e tratamento da informação, atendi aos contextos onde o trabalho se realizou, bem como às observações dos diversos intervenientes na supervisão dos estágios, a planificações e reflexões semanais que fui elaborando e me permitiram concretizar uma análise imprescindível para as aprendizagens concretizadas e apresentadas no presente Relatório; REPORT OF SUPERVISED TEACHING PRACTICE IN PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION AND THE 1ST CYCLE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION: ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS PROMOTERS OF EDUCATION IN NATURAL SCIENCES Abstract: The present report, elaborated in the scope of the Practice of Supervised Teaching in Pre-School and in the Primary Education, makes to known the learning processes inherent to the practice developed in context. In Pre-School Education, I created a training memorial that allowed me to reflect on the experiences I had live in the internship, making possible the acquisition of professional’s knowledges and learnings. In Primary School the internship also assumed a reflexive perspective which allowed me to learn the profession, but the dynamic of the work with the children allowed me to, equally, the realization of a project lined up with the action-research. The contexts where differentiated by their specificity, by the institutions geographic location, by the cultural situation and by the learning level where they were developed. The educational practice in Primary School occurred in the school EB/JI Galopim de Carvalho in Évora and the Pre-School practice occurred in Núcleo de Educação Infantil Colônia Z-11, in Brazil in the city of Florianopolis. In the matter of the investigative dimension, I dedicated special attention to the “Organization of Educative Environments Promoters of Natural Sciences Education”, to understand how learning sciences can contribute to scientifically literacy of the children, having in view the exercise of an informed citizenship. For this the children involved actively in the process of building their own knowledge. I resorted to authors who give me contributes to conceive, to plan and to fundament the practices, both from the pedagogical point of view and from the curricular contents point of view. To the collect and treat of data, I attend to the contexts where the work were realized, to the observations of the diverse actors in the internship supervision, to the daily plans and weekly reflections which I had been elaborating and which allowed me to concretize an indispensable analysis to the learnings achieve and presented in the present report.

Genetic Algorithms for Parameter Estimation in Circadian Model

This paper proposes an algorithm to estimate two parameter values vs, transcription of frq gene, and vd, maximum rate of FRQ protein degradation for an existing 3rd order Neurospora model in literature. Details of the algorithm with simulation results are shown in this paper.